The Sundering Of Hyrule
by Stingra
Summary: Seven years have passed since Link defeated Ganondorf and left Hyrule, but the seal the Sages created did not hold, and Ganondorf returned to reclaim what he lost... [NOT COMPLETED]


The woman's jaw shattered as the huge fist connected with it. The metal gauntlet slit open her cheek, and a warm, red liquid began to run down the side of her face. The gauntleted fist came back, as quick as lightning, and slammed into her stomach, knocking the wind and her feet out from under her. Her bottom lip split open as the wet stone met her face and the impact forced several of her jaw fragments through her cheek, exposing the bloody bones to the freezing air of the dungeon. A voice that sounded like rolling thunder spoke above her, taunting her, mocking her, insulting her in every worst way. As she struggled to raise herself from the floor, the armored boot of the voice rammed into her side, and she felt the ribs snapping like dry twigs. Trying to fight through the pain, the woman continued to try to raise herself, but was finally driven back to the floor when the same boot kicked her in the back, and her body went numb.

The voice spoke again, but the cruel humor was gone from it, replaced by a hatred that could fuel the very stars themselves. "Don't you dare get back up, you little wench. I have waited far too long for this, trapped in a world of pure darkness for a eternity, reliving my defeat over and over". The fist came back down to the gravely wounded woman lying of the floor, but it did not strike her. Instead it grasped her chin and raised it ever so slightly so she could look into the face of her torturer.

"You see, 'Princess', I have come to reclaim what you both took from me. My castle, my city, my empire, all gone because you could not accept the fact that I had won. But I've had seven years to reflect on my defeat, to see where I went wrong and where you snuck through under that pitiful disguise of yours." The Gerudo grinned, his white teeth looking out of place against his dark skin and black armor. "But it's all mine again, and I'm going to reshape this pitiful world in my image once again! And with your little hero gone, I will not be stopped by anyone. Not by you, not your Sages, not even the goddesses themselves!"

The Gerudo released the woman's head, and it hit the stone floor with a barely audible thud. The man stood over his enemy for a few more moments, savoring it like a fine steak, then turned and left the cold dungeon. He passed at the portcullis and pointed to one of his minions. "You. Cut the Triforce of Wisdom out of her hand and bring it to me" He began walking down the darkened passageway, his personal shadow guard falling into step behind him.

"Leave her to bleed when you're done".

The Gerudo's chosen minion nodded silently and unsheathed its dagger. "Yes, Lord Ganondorf".

And as the creature descended upon the woman, she did something that she had not done in seven years.

Princess Zelda began to cry.

Zelda stared at her butchered hand, and watched as the blood continued to seep out of it into the grime filled groves of the floor. She couldn't move, not after Ganondorf had paralyzed her by kicking her to the floor. She felt nothing below her neck, and it made her feel as if she had been decapitated. The pain in her mouth had not subsided in the long hours since Ganondorf's minion had dug her Triforce piece out of her hand, and she was certain it was the only thing keeping her from succumbing to shock. Her face was pale from the amount of blood she had lost, and it was growing paler every minute.

She knew it wouldn't be long before she died.

She closed her eyes, it was the only thing she was still able to do and if she had to die, she'd rather it be in darkness than staring at her injuries. She thought of how it all went wrong, of how that nightmare had managed to escape the Sacred Realm after she and Link had gone through so much to seal him there. The Sages were dead, murdered as Ganondorf escaped from his confinement, and now the Gerudo had their powers. It wasn't right, it couldn't be right. Something must have gone horribly wrong in the Timeline for Ganondorf to return.

But the Hero of Time had left Hyrule after returning to his proper time, seven years ago, leaving Zelda behind. She had brought it upon herself, returning to the time before Ganondorf had seized the Triforce of Power so that she and Link could live their lives fully. But he was back, and she was dying on the floor of one of her castle's dungeons. Her father and mother were dead, the Hyrulian army annihilated, the Gorons and Zoras too terrified to do anything but hide in their homes, and any allies she had were piles of ash as Kakariko and the Castle Town burned in the flames of the fires.

And Link was gone.

That made her eyes snap wide open. Link **was** gone. She had always hoped that he was waiting in the forests, honing his skills, gathering his strength, or waiting for the perfect moment to counter Ganondorf's attack. Even when the madman had crushed the army and attacked Hyrule Castle itself she still believed that Link would appear like he had in her dream. He had been the shining pillar of white light that had cut the dark storm clouds that covered the land, the little fairy boy that would grow to be the bravest of warriors, the one thing that had kept hope alive the first time Ganondorf had taken over.

But he was gone.

The fact hit her like the kick that had paralyzed her. He wasn't coming back this time, not for Hyrule, not for Malon or Ruto, Nabooru or Saria. Not even for her. Her hand still had not stopped bleeding, and her blood was beginning to pool around the outline of her face. It was cold, she realized, the life was gone from it, just like it was gone from Hyrule, and like it would be gone from her. Her vision began to tunnel and he body began to involuntarily shake. No, this can't be it, not like this, not like this! She tried everything she could to keep herself awake, but everything began to fade to black. As she died on the dungeon floor, Princess Zelda of Hyrule called out for Link.

The small orb of light drifted aimlessly through the barred window and fluttered around the dark room. It had been a week since the bad man had killed her Kokiri charge, leaving his body to rot at the entrance of the village as a warning to those that tried to stand against him. She had no purpose now, the other fairies wouldn't accept her for letting her Kokiri die and the Great Deku Tree was still to young to be able to give her a new Kokiri to watch over. So she had been left to wander the charred lands of Hyrule, through the lifeless woods, over the ashen plains, over the ruins of the Castle Town, and now she had found herself in some sort of large closet inside of the castle. It smelled bad too, like someone had died in here.

The fairy bobbed up and down around the room's door, trying to find a way deeper into the castle before noticing the corpse in the far corner. In the dim light her fairy body gave off, she couldn't actually tell if it was dead or not, so she floated closer.

"Hey! Wake Up!" she said in her shrill voice, "Hey! Wake Up!" she began bobbing up and down frantically around the thing's head, like she had done with her Kokiri. Usually this would wake him up, but this thing was proving more difficult, and after several minutes of shouting and frantic flying, she gave up. The fairy settled down on the corpse's shoulder to rest, and took a good look at who she was exactly trying to wake up. Normally it was against fairy rules to even touch another person if they were not of Kokiri heritage, but since she was no longer welcome in the forest she had taken to ignoring those said rules. The tiny fairy floated off of the person's shoulder to float in front of it's hair-covered face, her light cast strange pale shadows on the skin underneath the long blonde bangs but provided just enough light to see who it was she was pestering.

The answer knocked her out of the air.

She had only seen this person once, and that was when she had visited the village to present her Kokiri with a royal gift in honor of providing the Hero of Time with a home. The fairy landed on the dried blood of Princess Zelda and gazed up at the dead eyes that seemed to stare into her little soul. She took off back into the air and made a beeline for the dungeon's window, but stopped when she passed the iron bars. The fairy turned and looked sadly at the deceased princess, she had died so young…just like her Kokiri did. She felt connected to the princess, as if touching her body had created a magical tether some how. The fairy floated slowly back to the fallen princess. What could she do? The princess was clearly dead, and she wasn't the kind of fairy that could bring the dead back to life, only the Great Fairies could perform that level of magic.

"Oh, what do I do?" she muttered softly as she fluttered closer to Zelda's body. "I can get her out of here to see a Great Fairy, I'm too small…but I can't just leave her here…oh what do I do?"

Then suddenly a chill ran through her. Something evil was approaching, something that felt like the bad man from before. Acting as quick as she could, the fairy dived inside of Zelda's ruined dress, and made herself as dim as possible against the cold, dead flesh of the princess.

The dungeon's portcullis opened slowly, as if the being on the other side wanted to instill fear into his prisoner. Ganondorf opened the portcullis the remainder of the way open and stepped into the dungeon. He gave it a cursory glance to make sure the princess had somehow escaped with her magic, and was satisfied to see her in the same position her had left her in the night before. He knew she was dead, he had felt her life force drop off the mortal plane sometime before dawn, but that did not stop him from being cautious. He had thought she was dead once before and he had paid dearly for that mistake when he discovered it was actually her that was helping that little bastard waking the Sages up.

He walked over and crouched beside the corpse. "Not so defiant now, are you 'princess'?" He whispered, "But unfortunately for me, the owner of the Triforce pieces have be alive for them to work. Don't think that I didn't know this before, I wanted you to **suffer** for what you did to me, to die like I did before the Triforce of Power granted my a second life." The Gerudo glared at the still body. "I am going to revive you, 'princess', but only because it suits my needs. Don't you dare think that I'm doing this as any sort of kindness to you, and if you ever even whisper it, I will kill you again, and this time you will stay dead."

Ganondorf grabbed Zelda's body by the neck and hoisted it up onto his massive shoulder. Silently he left the dungeon, and entered the main castle. It was in a state much like it had been the first time he had seized it. Stalfos soldiers patrolling the halls, Armos statues watching the corridors silently, the fallen bodies of Hylian soldiers cruxifixed to the walls by Moblins and Poes, and the deafening silence that filled the entire castle. He would have it demolished, of course, and his citadel would rise above the land of Hyrule again, and none would oppose him. But first he needed the damnable princess alive so that he could solidify his power with the two Triforce pieces. It was ironic though, to rule he needed to have at least one of his greatest enemies alive to power their Triforce, and like hell he was going to try to search for **Him**.

He walked through the halls towards the castle entrance. He may have the power of the Sages themselves, but they can still only do so much, and for this he needed the very power of the goddesses themselves. Din, Nayru, Farore, Power, Wisdom, and Courage, the three beings that created Hyrule and the Triforce itself, and Ganondorf would have to convince them to release her soul from the Spirit Realm back into her mortal body. He grimaced, it would be a near to impossible task, but he had to try. He kicked the large entry doors open with a powerful kick and continued down into the wreckage-strewn meadow before him. It was here that the Hyrulian army had made its last stand before him and had fallen like it did before.

Ganondorf trudged out to the very center of the wreckage and tossed Zelda's body onto the mostly clear ground, not caring to make sure that the corpse didn't land on any discarded weapons.

With the princess in place, and the two Triforce pieces in his hands, the Gerudo called upon the goddesses.


End file.
